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Siren Song #1
Siren Song
This is a sensual romance (may have explicit love scenes, but not erotic level). First in the Royal Dynasty series. William of Marlowe and Elizabeth of Hurley loved each other from childhood and swore to marry no other. Their fathers had more practical and profitable intentions. William was told Elizabeth had gone to Ilmer to be married to Mauger and in his pain and rage took Mary of Bix to wife. Elizabeth, who had withstood starvation and beatings, yielded at last when a priest swore to her William had married Mary. But Mauger had taken Elizabeth for more than her moderate dowry. Soon her brothers were both dead and Elizabeth was heir to her father’s lands. When Elizabeth’s father died, Mauger moved his family to Hurley. And when he saw the rich lands of Marlowe across the river, he decided to marry his son to William’s daughter, be rid of William, and have Marlowe too. William should have seen through Mauger’s false front, but his heart and mind were paralyzed by the horrible thought of Elizabeth in Mauger’s arms. And he nearly, so nearly, also became Mauger’s victim. Publisher’s This book was previously published in 1980.
399 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
20 people are currently reading
449 people want to read
About the author
Roberta Gellis
56 books184 followersRoberta Gellis has been one of the most successful writers of historical fiction of the last few decades, having published about 25 meticulously researched historical novels since 1964. She was married to her husband Charles for over 50 years and they lived together in Lafayette, Indiana with a lively Lakeland terrier called Taffy. She has one child called Mark.
Her page at the Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase
Her page at the Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 30, 2021
Siren Song, the first in Roberta Gellis's Medieval Song trilogy, takes us to 13th century England.
Noble Elizabeth is not a beauty, but she is intelligent, capable, and now lady to vast lands, with her brothers and father recently deceased. Elizabeth has been married for years to Mauger, a cruel, murderous lord who wishes for nothing more than to aggrandize himself through whatever means necessary. Mauger has the looks of an angel yet the disposition of a demon. There is no deed too vile for him, as he eagerly breaks every Commandment. It is no mere coincidence that Elizabeth's brothers conveniently died, leaving her, and thus Mauger, quite wealthy.
Years ago, Elizabeth had been in love with Sir William of Marlowe, and he with her. But parental manipulations led to them being forced to wed others. Now, William is a widower with a daughter of soon-to-be marriageable age.
Mauger has eyes on Marlowe and seeks to wed his and Elizabeth's eldest son, Aubrey, to William's daughter, Alys. Once the two are married, Mauger has plans for William's untimely demise.
William seeks only one thing: to be near to Elizabeth again. The only woman he has ever loved, William, will do whatever it takes to be with her. And so he pursues the married Elizabeth, even though it may cost him his life.
Adultery is a cardinal sin in the Church. During the Middle Ages, a woman risked more than just her soul if she committed such an act, no matter what mitigating factors surrounded it. Thus, it does not matter that Mauger openly flouts his leman in front of his wife, having her reside in their manor acting like a second wife. Nor does it matter that their parents tricked Elizabeth and William into believing that each had betrayed the other, wedding other people under false circumstances. Evil as Mauger may be, he is Elizabeth's husband.
William is a wonderful hero in pursuit of his beloved. He's no dummy, but Elizabeth is his blind spot. While Elizabeth is dismissed as a mouse by her husband, she is actually a woman of strength and deep and abiding passions. She and William become lovers and engage in several lusty, furtive love-making sessions, marked by Gellis's standard earthiness.
As there is only one way Elizabeth and William can be together, the end comes to a satisfyingly violent conclusion.
Siren Song also had the other major hallmark of Roberta Gellis's work, a healthy heaping of history, yet it was in no way bogged down by boring recitations of facts and events. The characters were true to their time period, in both beliefs and actions. The romance was passionate and convincing. Mauger was perhaps a bit extreme in his evil, but his wickedness is a huge plot point for Book 3 of the series, Aubrey's story, Fire Song, which is one of my all-time most beloved romances. Unfortunately, Siren Song doesn't quite reach those heights for me. Nevertheless, it's an entertaining love story that I would heartily recommend to anyone who enjoys authentic history with their historical romances.
4 stars
Noble Elizabeth is not a beauty, but she is intelligent, capable, and now lady to vast lands, with her brothers and father recently deceased. Elizabeth has been married for years to Mauger, a cruel, murderous lord who wishes for nothing more than to aggrandize himself through whatever means necessary. Mauger has the looks of an angel yet the disposition of a demon. There is no deed too vile for him, as he eagerly breaks every Commandment. It is no mere coincidence that Elizabeth's brothers conveniently died, leaving her, and thus Mauger, quite wealthy.
Years ago, Elizabeth had been in love with Sir William of Marlowe, and he with her. But parental manipulations led to them being forced to wed others. Now, William is a widower with a daughter of soon-to-be marriageable age.
Mauger has eyes on Marlowe and seeks to wed his and Elizabeth's eldest son, Aubrey, to William's daughter, Alys. Once the two are married, Mauger has plans for William's untimely demise.
William seeks only one thing: to be near to Elizabeth again. The only woman he has ever loved, William, will do whatever it takes to be with her. And so he pursues the married Elizabeth, even though it may cost him his life.
Adultery is a cardinal sin in the Church. During the Middle Ages, a woman risked more than just her soul if she committed such an act, no matter what mitigating factors surrounded it. Thus, it does not matter that Mauger openly flouts his leman in front of his wife, having her reside in their manor acting like a second wife. Nor does it matter that their parents tricked Elizabeth and William into believing that each had betrayed the other, wedding other people under false circumstances. Evil as Mauger may be, he is Elizabeth's husband.
William is a wonderful hero in pursuit of his beloved. He's no dummy, but Elizabeth is his blind spot. While Elizabeth is dismissed as a mouse by her husband, she is actually a woman of strength and deep and abiding passions. She and William become lovers and engage in several lusty, furtive love-making sessions, marked by Gellis's standard earthiness.
As there is only one way Elizabeth and William can be together, the end comes to a satisfyingly violent conclusion.
Siren Song also had the other major hallmark of Roberta Gellis's work, a healthy heaping of history, yet it was in no way bogged down by boring recitations of facts and events. The characters were true to their time period, in both beliefs and actions. The romance was passionate and convincing. Mauger was perhaps a bit extreme in his evil, but his wickedness is a huge plot point for Book 3 of the series, Aubrey's story, Fire Song, which is one of my all-time most beloved romances. Unfortunately, Siren Song doesn't quite reach those heights for me. Nevertheless, it's an entertaining love story that I would heartily recommend to anyone who enjoys authentic history with their historical romances.
4 stars
May 2, 2013
One of my biggest perks in books is fairy tales and caricatures of people, this is my first Gellis' historical romance book and I liked it because of how the book ends after Richard basically tells the main character who is the romantic interest of one of the main heroin in Siren Song, Alys, to be mindful of his words and actions when asking his father for permission to marry this girl. Everyone laughs and Elizabeth -now free of Mauger- says if only things were so easy then they would all be living in a fairy-tale-like world with they all lived happily ever after the end. So the end leaves it clear that even after all the obstacles and that they will marry and love each other dearly, obstacles will still happen, because life is more complicated than a love tale or fairy tale.
I think what that implied at the end was great, it was a great novel and I am eager to read more of Gellis work in the future.
I think what that implied at the end was great, it was a great novel and I am eager to read more of Gellis work in the future.
August 12, 2018
Written in the once-was-popular style of head jumping within the same chapter, once I got the flow of it I didn't get confused. The writing was stellar (awesome fight scene at the end) and the research was spot on, or so it felt. I skimmed passed the sex scenes. I read it for the story.
October 5, 2012
bad book
September 17, 2012
This was a light fluffy read, albeit a long one. I liked the characters, the plot, the action, the romance. The writing was clean an unobtrusive. Gellis did an excellent job with transitioning points of view.
There was a little too much telling, and one character who had no redeeming qualities at all. I don't like characters painted so one-dimensionally. No one is all bad, or all good. We all are a combination of both.
The ending was a little rushed. And although there is a sequel is was not left as a cliffhanger.
Down the road, I will probably pick up the sequel, but moving on for now.
There was a little too much telling, and one character who had no redeeming qualities at all. I don't like characters painted so one-dimensionally. No one is all bad, or all good. We all are a combination of both.
The ending was a little rushed. And although there is a sequel is was not left as a cliffhanger.
Down the road, I will probably pick up the sequel, but moving on for now.
May 4, 2023
Gellis became an auto-read years and years ago. This is the story of William of Marlowe and Elizabeth of Hurley. They fell in love when they were young, but their parents married them off elsewhere--and they kept loving each other anyway.
April 22, 2013
Plotting by evil greedy people brings pain & sadness to the two destined lovers who have to overcome their own insecurities and doubts to fight for a chance of a lifetime together. A long book but well worth it.
September 11, 2016
On the one hand, I appreciated the historically accurate treatment meted out to serfs etc but on the other hand it made the supposedly sympathetic main characters seem like huge jerks from time to time (e.g. treatment of Emma.)
June 20, 2009
historical
Want to read
February 15, 2016198pgs, Historical Sensual Romance, arranged marriages, they loved each other as children and vowed to marry each other, their fathers had other ideas.
August 2, 2017
Yeah....
I didn't understand this, I'm not very keen on this book.
Will not be rereading.
I didn't understand this, I'm not very keen on this book.
Will not be rereading.
August 1, 2017
An easy enough read. Very predictable. Where the book ends is very set for the next book. But nothing is really loose enough that you need to read on.
April 10, 2022
This medieval romance features two “older” characters-you don’t even learn about their original romance until quite a ways in. As others mention, the anti-hero is onesidedly evil.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews